Consortium to deliver CDE for Heathrow Airport

Posted by Erica Coulehan on 20/02/2019

Consortium to deliver CDE for Heathrow Airport

New solution will provide one single version of the truth for critical assets

GroupBC, UK-owned independent software company, has announced it will form part of a consortium, led by Excitech, and including technology from Autodesk, to deliver Heathrow Airport’s chosen Common Data Environment (CDE) solution. A company providing highly secure, project and asset information management solutions for contractors, consultants and asset owning clients, GroupBC will help implement a CDE system to be used by one of the world’s busiest airports.

Providing best-in-class information and asset management in line with emerging industry standards, the CDE is at the heart of Heathrow’s Information strategy, and will ensure the efficient whole-life management of Heathrow’s critical assets.

It will be its primary common information repository and allow for specific controls to be put in place to share information in a controlled manner with suppliers and across Heathrow’s departments.

Wes Simmons, GroupBC CEO, said: “GroupBC is thrilled to have been selected as the CDE for this prestigious project. It’s a marquee win in the global infrastructure and aviation sector. Partnering with Excitech and Autodesk brings together a wealth of experience and expertise focused on delivering a world class solution to Heathrow, set to lay down a benchmark for other major aviation clients to aspire to.”

Expected to be completed by December 2020, the project is already underway. It will see the deployment of Autodesk’s BIM 360 visualisation and design tools integrated and underpinned with management and governance from GroupBC’s Enterprise CDE.

Jo Ellman Brown, PMO Director at Heathrow, said: “We are aiming to be the first airport operator in the world who can leverage value from our digital assets, allowing our people to work in a safe environment, design and plan in a collaborative way, and operate a fully integrated asset system.

David Hughes, Excitech’s Managing Director, said: “The GroupBC and Autodesk technologies being deployed are market-leading and will enable Heathrow to trust the data they hold and have the confidence to make decisions based on ‘one version of the truth’.

As well as enabling Heathrow to have accurate, up-to-date information readily available in the CDE, the new solution will result in fewer surveys and reduced costs as a result of earlier and greater collaboration across all parties. Additionally, maintenance costs will reduce through better, earlier clash detection and more accurate maintenance information being readily available.